8 K CROSS COUNTRY RACE BLESSED WITH PERFECT RUNNING WEATHER

Written by Madeline Bost
Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, November 20 2011
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2011

In one sense there were no surprises at the USATF New Jersey championship 8 kilometer cross country race at Deer Path Park on Saturday. What would have been a disaster on October 30th in the snow was blessed instead with perfect running weather on November 19th.

The new comer Garden State Track Club won the open men’s division as well as the women’s. Their men had won the 5 kilometer back in October so no surprise there. But their women had only picked up fourth.

It was no surprise that there were a substantial number of no-shows. About 10% no-shows is common in road racing but in cross country I would guess that less than 5% of the people who pre-register for cross country do not show up on race day. But the change to November 19 and a Saturday at that threw a lot of people out of the race thanks to previous commitments.


In 2010 eight open teams competed in the men’s division. On Saturday six teams competed and two of them were the Garden State club and they weren’t there in 2010. It is as though the open men, and open women have disappeared, except for the new club.

Justin Scheid, 25, of Sparta won the race in 25:49. He ran alone with a wider lead as the race went on. Second place was Anthony Harris of East Brunswick and he was over a minute back in 26:56. Five men were masters in the top 16 finishers. Thomas Yakowenko of Metuchen who is 43 was sixth overall. Mark Zamek, 48, of Macungie PA was eighth and Rich Burke of Morristown, 44, the first local man to finish, was ninth in 27:46.

Zamek, who won the Midland Run in about 1992, told me after the race that a few years back that his time of 27:32 would have put him in about 30th place in the same race. I did a little research and hit pay dirt. In 1996 Zamek, then 36 finished the same race in 27:53, in 26th place. Twenty-five of the men ahead of him were under age forty. The other one, Tom Bowmaster of Morristown, at age 40 finished in 27:26.

Nine women over forty were in the top 16 in Saturday’s race and three were over age 50. The race was won by Catherine Smith of Wayne in 31:10. She had over a minute on Cheyenne Ogletree of Garfield who finished second in 32:07 after outsprinting Misa Tamura of Ridgewood who clocked 32:08. The first local woman to finish was Stacey Graham of Morris Plains, 47, who finished in 39:33.

Team scoring is always subject to correction, usually due to a data entry error, but preliminary scoring shows the Sneaker Factory scoring third in open men and first in M40. The Morris County Striders open men placed sixth and third in the M40, M50 and M60 divisions.

In the women’s team division the Rose City Runners and the Morris County Striders tied for third with 67 points. In the W40 division the Striders placed fourth and Rose City fifth with the Do Run Runners sixth. In the W50 division the teams traded places with Rose City second and the Striders third. Do Run Runners followed in fourth. The Striders picked up firsts in W60 and W70 thanks to their dedicated senior women. Notable by their absence were the women runners from the Sneaker Factory and the Raritan Valley Road Runners. Those clubs have women who are running this morning in the Philadelphia Marathon, and obviously unable to compete in both races.

Their absence will have an impact on the team and overall club scoring. Each team earns an extra two points for competing at the cross country races. Next up for the teams is the Ashenfelter 8K on Thanksgiving morning in Glen Ridge. After that race the tally for the teams from the race yesterday and the Ashenfelter will tell the teams what they need to do at the USATF ten mile race on December 11th.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING RACING

Many runners will stay local and run in the Morris Township Turkey Trot to benefit the Interfaith Pantry on Thanksgiving morning. Registration will begin at 7:00 a.m. The headline 5K starts at 8:30 a.m. with a mile fun run at 8:40, and a kids trot for the under 12 year’s olds at 9:15. The distances for the kids are graduated based on ages of the kids. The awards program is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. 

SCHEDULE EVEN MORE CROWED FROM SNOW STORM

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, November 13 2011

Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2011

The Halloween snow storm that was not actually on Halloween but will forever be tagged with that moniker, has caused even more shifts in runners scheduling. The Great Swamp Devil 15K and 5K that would have been held on October 30th is now scheduled for Sunday December 4th. The start times have also been changed. The 5K will start at 11:00 a.m. and the 15K will go off an hour later, at noon.

This means that those who are planning to run in the Grand Finale ten mile championship on Sunday, December 11th will be running back-to-back longer races. Running 9.3 miles on one weekend and 10 miles on the next might not be too bad earlier in the year, but runners are going to be tired by the time the racing season ends.

They will have run in today’s Giralda Farms 10K, or 5K in Madison and the next weekend, on Saturday, November 19th will be running the USATF New Jersey 8 kilometer cross country championship in Deer Path Park in Readington. That race was another casualty of the Halloween storm.

A new Turkey Trot 5K is being held in Basking Ridge on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, November 20th. The race in Mountain Park will begin at 9:00 a.m.

As was noted here in last week’s column, they then have their choice of Thanksgiving morning races. For USATF New Balance Grand Prix runners and members of teams, the Ashenfelter 8K in Glen Ridge is almost a must do race as it is the championship for all divisions.

Other races beckon as well. In Morris Township, the Ginty Field course will be used for the Turkey Trot 5K being put on to benefit the Interfaith Pantry and the Literacy Volunteers of Morris County.

The nearness of that race makes traveling to the Flemington Turkey Trot not so enticing. That race has the longest history and has attracted the highest number of finishers – nearly four thousand in 2010. The Morris Township race had a mere 1,800. Of course I say that in jest as attracting close to two thousand runners on Thanksgiving morning is no joke.

Don’t overlook the Kroghs Restaurant and Brew Pub Turkey Trot that takes place on Thanksgiving morning. It has an early start of 8:45 a.m. with a one mile at 8:15 a.m.

A race that was missed last year is back in the line-up but not at its customary place. The Dover Renaissance 5K will take place on Saturday, December 3rd at 9:00 a.m. Of course race director Peter Lee couldn’t have known that the Swamp Devil races would be on the following day when he scheduled the Dover race. An interesting twist on awards is that the depth of each age division is based on the previous year’s participation.

NEW RUNNING BOOK HAS JERSEY ROOTS

A new novel has just been released that should be on your night table. HOHAs in Love may sound like a romance novel, and it may be that, but it is also a novel whose characters are runners. Set in New Jersey, the author, Laurence Graham does not shy away from placing his characters in the Hoboken Harriers club in Hudson County. Although the protagonists are fictional, there are resemblances to real people in the New Jersey running community that are fun to pick out. Some events are also quite easily identified.

Graham, who uses the less formal Larry, now lives Florida. When he was living in Jersey City he was a regular on the New Jersey racing scene and an extremely talented age division competitor. Graham places his characters at what is clearly the Healthy Heart 5K that was put on by Morristown Memorial Hospital for several years. It was the masters 5K championship for two or three years, and in 1998 Graham, then 46, scored second in the age grading with his 16:09 that hit 87.3%.

He clearly knows about running and racing, and now he shows that he knows about running clubs and the camaraderie that is built among their members. And yes, about love. [ Also see http://hohasinlove.com ]

GREAT SWAMP DEVIL RACES: OCTOBER 30, 2011

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, October 23, 2011

Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2011


[The Great Swamp Devil 15K and 5K was postponed due to the unexpected October snow storm! ~editor Thinnmann on 10/30/11]

In 2009 the Great Swamp Devil 15K and 5K in Basking Ridge took a bye.   No, not because they did not want to put on the races, but because of construction on a bridge on the course there was no way the races could be held.

When the races came back in 2010, they came back a month earlier than was customary.   The Swamp Devil races had fallen into a pattern of coming a week after the Giralda Farms races in November, which are positioned to come the week after the ING New York City Marathon. 

Last year they were held on October 24^th.  This year they are being held next Sunday, October 30^th.   According to race director Tom Miller of Chatham the race organizers are considering making the last Sunday in October the date each year. 

Miller believes that a 15K race the week before the New York marathon is a good final tune-up.  Although he is currently dealing with a knee problem and has not been able to race of late, he said that his best marathon times have come off races very close to the target marathon.

The Amazing Feet Running Club is now the official organizers of the Swamp Devil races.  It is a natural progression for the club after several years of supplying members as volunteers.

When the races were held in mid November the start time of 1:00 in the afternoon made sense.  It could be expected that the daytime temperatures would have reached their peak by one o’clock.  Now, with the race in late October it makes sense to move the times up earlier and so the 5K will go off at 10:00 a.m. and the 15K at 11:00 a.m.  Miller also pointed out that we will still be on Daylight Savings time as the switch to Standard time doesn’t occur until the following weekend, November 6^th.

Having the 5K start an hour before the 15K will insure that  most of the 5K runners will have finished before the first 15K runners begin to hit the final stretch.  In the past there had been overlap when the 5K race started shortly after the 15K runners took off.

While the new date and new start time are notable, the biggest change is to the course.  The old course was an out and back with one side trip, also an out and back.  These types of course are fun as they allow the runners to see their competition coming back from a turn-around and to see those who are stalking them.  It gives the entire field a chance to see the leaders in a race.

The new course has a third out-and- back and it will make for a great spectator course for the runners.  The first turn around is just after the first mile, meaning that the field will still be relatively bunched.  The second turn around is a dog leg that goes off the main course, White Bridges Road, just after three miles.  The turnaround is more than a mile off White Bridges, meaning that the most of the field will be somewhere on that section of the course when the leaders are coming back to White Bridges.  From there it is a straight line up White Bridges to the final turn around and then straight back to the start and finish line at Lord Stirling School.

In previous years the 15K was a magnet for runners who needed a Category Three race in the New Balance Grand Prix.  This year has seen an increase of Category Three races, particularly the half marathons that have sprung up.  While the 15K race may not be as strong a draw this year, there is no doubt that for those looking for a relatively easy Category Three race, picking a 15K over a half marathon is a no brainer.

Some runners who will be missing the Great Swamp Devil races will be those going to the Safe Dating 5K in Convent Station, and others, especially USATF team runners, will be at Deer Path Park in Readington for the 8K cross country.
[The 8K XC was postponed due to the unexpected October snow storm! ~editor Thinnmann on 10/30/11]

February Thaw

The unseasonably warm weather over the last two days is undoubtedly a boon to runners in New Jersey.  Shorts and t-shirs are being worn on the run once again.  Alas, it is still winter, so stay prepared to layer up next week when the forcast says we will be back in the 30's with some rain and snow showers.

Upcoming races:

Valentine's Day, February 14 - Cupid Chase 5K at Princeton University.